What's New in Remote Desktop Services in Windows Server 2008 R2

05/26/2014

2 minutes to read

In this article

Applies To: Windows Server 2008 R2

Remote Desktop Services, formerly Terminal Services, provides technologies that enable users to access session-based desktops, virtual machine-based desktops, or applications in the datacenter from both within a corporate network and from the Internet. Remote Desktop Services enables a rich-fidelity desktop or application experience, and helps to securely connect remote users from managed or unmanaged devices.

In Windows Server 2008 R2 with Service Pack 1 (SP1), Microsoft RemoteFX has been added to Remote Desktop Services. RemoteFX enables a rich PC experience for virtual machine users, through a 3D adapter and USB redirection. The 3D scenarios in virtual desktops provide a virtualized graphics processing unit (GPU) within the virtual machine. RemoteFX also provides intelligent capture and compression that adapts for the best user experience and scale both for virtual and session-based desktops.

In Windows Server 2008 R2, all Remote Desktop Services role services have been renamed. The following table lists both the former name and the new name of each Remote Desktop Services role service.

Previous name

Name in Windows Server 2008 R2

Terminal Services

Remote Desktop Services

Terminal Server

Remote Desktop Session Host (RD Session Host)

Terminal Services Licensing (TS Licensing)

Remote Desktop Licensing (RD Licensing)

Terminal Services Gateway (TS Gateway)

Remote Desktop Gateway (RD Gateway)

Terminal Services Session Broker (TS Session Broker)

Remote Desktop Connection Broker (RD Connection Broker)

Terminal Services Web Access (TS Web Access)

Remote Desktop Web Access (RD Web Access)

In addition to the Remote Desktop Services role services names, the name of the Remote Desktop Services management tools have also changed.

Previous name

Name in Windows Server 2008 R2

Terminal Services Manager

Remote Desktop Services Manager

Terminal Services Configuration

Remote Desktop Session Host Configuration

TS Gateway Manager

Remote Desktop Gateway Manager

TS Licensing Manager

Remote Desktop Licensing Manager

TS RemoteApp Manager

RemoteApp Manager

The following topics describe changes in Remote Desktop Services functionality available in this release: